Letting Off Steam

As an artist, I find it interesting and rewarding to make something beautiful and often functional, from nature's castoffs. The act of coiling a vessel can be confining, in that it builds upon a repetitive pattern of circles. The challenge that I enjoy is using the techniques and materials at hand, such as color, stitching, and shaping to guide the movement of the coil in unexplored directions. There is beauty and inspiration in nature's discards – all visible in the striations of the wood, meandering vines, cones, and needles. Often what I create has a mind of its own, and what I envisioned at the start will turn out differently in the end. My art is a reminder that life's journey doesn't always follow the intended path, but often leads to something even better.